The Russian Academy Of Arts

100-FOOT-CALL MEMORIAL TO THE VICTIMS OF TERRORISM,

A GIFT FROM RUSSIA TO THE UNITED STATES,

TO BE DEDICATED ON THE FIFTH ANNIVERSARY

OF THE 9-11 TERRORIST ATTACKS

“TO THE STRUGGLE AGAINST WORLD TERRORISM”

A GIFT FROM RUSSIAN PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN,

THE PEOPLE OF RUSSIA AND SCULPTOR ZURAB TSERETELI

TO THE PEOPLE OF UNITED STATES

HONORING THOSE KILLED IN BOTH

1993 AND 2001 WORLD TRADE CENTER TERRORIST ATTACKS

AND THEIR FAMILIES,

TO BE DEDICATED ON SEPTEMBER 11, 2006

ON THE SHORES OF BAYONNE, NEW JERSEY

FAMILIES OF BOTH 1993 AND 2001 ATTACKS

AS WELL AS RUSSIAN AND AMERICAN OFFICIALS,

INCLUDING NJ GOVERNOR CORZINE,

TO SPEAK
New York, NY – On the fifth anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks, New Jersey Governor Jon S. Corzine will speak at the dedication of “To The Struggle Against World Terrorism”, the 10-story high memorial to the victims of terrorism towering over the Bayonne. New Jersey waterfont opposite lower Manhattan where the World Trade Center towers stood. The dedication ceremony begins at 2:30 pm on Monday, September 11, 2006.
The 100-foot-tall, 175-ton, bronze-clad monument, enclosing a 40-foot-step teardrop, has been presented as a gift from Russian President Vladimir Putin, the people of Russia and Russian sculptor Zurab Tsereteli to the people of the United States.
  Its eleven-sided granite base bears the names of all those who perished in the initial explosion at the World Trade Center in 1993 and in 2001 attacks.
The monument is in view of both the statue of Liberty and Ground Zero and is clearly visible from Battery Park, from the Staten Island Ferry and from planes near both LaGuarda and Newark Airports. It will be brightly lit at night.
In a recent letter to Bayonne Major Joseph Doria, President Putin states “on the fifth anniversary of horrendous tragedy, the monument is being presented as a gift to the American people on behalf of the the people of Russia. Eternal will be our memory of those who died strengthening our strong determination to be able to avert similar Evil in the future… I hope the monument will serve as one more symbol of Russian American unity against worlf terrorism”.
 “This is a very special work of art for me”, says Tsereteli. “I was overcome with emotion as I watched the World Trade Center towers fall. I went onto the streets of Moscow and saw people crying. I knew I had to do something – not just about this event but about all terrorist acts. I knew I needed to create a universal monument to symbolize both the toll of the world terrorism and our hope for the future. I created this piece with a focus on the tear – a tear of grief which will become a tear of happiness when terrorism is defeated”.
 In addition to Governor Corzine, the dedication ceremony will feature Sergey M.Mironov, Chairman of the Council of Federation of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, American government representatives, Joseph Doria, Mayor of Bayonne, the artist Zurab Tsereteli as well as Michael Macko, whose father, William J. Macko of Bayonne, was killed in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, and Julia Collins, whose husband was killed in the 2001 World Trade Center terrorist attacks.     
  “It is a great honor for Bayonne to have ‘To the Struggle Against World Terrorism’ located in our city”, says Bayonne Mayor Doria. “As a community that lost residents in both the 1993 and 2001 attacks and where the World Trade Center served as a backdrop to our daily lives, Bayonne is a highly appropriate location for this striking memorial. ‘To the Struggle Against World Terrorism’ will join the Statue of Liberty as a gift from another country that will become an important symbol in the harbor”.
  President Putin joined Tsereteli for a ceremonial groundbreaking in Bayonne in September 2005. The sculpture was shipped to the States in pieces from St. Petersburg. In June of this year, Russian craftsmen and engineers joined their American counterparts to work side-by-side on the monument’s installation.
  Sculptor, painter, architect Zurab Tsereteli is the President of the Russian Academy of Arts and a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador. Amongst his prolific body of work exhibited throughout the world, he is widely known for the statue of Peter the Great in downtown Moscow and “Good Defeats Evil”, a sculpture he created using sections of scrapped US Pershing and Soviet SS-20 nuclear missiles, which sits on the ground on the United Nations Building.  

                     

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